Reuters

There are conflicting views in Russia on whether or not to launch a renewed offensive in Ukraine, a senior U.S.

Corporate earnings growth is expected to slow in the year ahead in many countries as higher inflation and rising interest rates take an even bigger toll and companies brace for the likelihood of a global economic downturn.

Afghanistan's Taliban-run higher education ministry on Tuesday suspended access to universities by female students until further notice, drawing strong condemnation from the United States, Britain and the United Nations.

Iran signalled its readiness for dialogue with regional states during a conference its arch foe Saudi Arabia attended in Jordan on Tuesday which yielded few signs of progress and no meeting between the two sides.

For nearly two years the United States has tried and failed to negotiate a revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal yet Washington and its European allies refuse to close the door to diplomacy.

Pakistani authorities on Monday opened talks to try to resolve a stand-off with Islamist militants who were holding several security personnel hostage after seizing control of a counter-terrorism facility in the country's northwest a day earlier.

Sam Bankman-Fried has decided to agree to be extradited to the United States to face fraud charges, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday, just hours after the FTX founder's lawyer told a Bahamas judge he was not ready to consent.

Qatar approved its 2023 fiscal year budget on Monday with revenue estimated to increase 16.3% next year, its finance minister said, thanks to rising average oil prices.

The United States accused U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of "apparently yielding to Russian threats" and not sending officials to Ukraine to inspect drones used by Russia that Washington and others say were supplied by Iran.

Oil prices rose in early trade on Tuesday, shored up by a weaker dollar and a U.S.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said protecting Ukraine's borders was a "constant priority" and his country was ready for all possible scenarios with Russia and its ally Belarus, which Kyiv has warned could be drawn into the 10-month conflict.

Islamist militants seized a counter-terrorism centre in the northwestern Pakistani area of Bannu on Sunday and took hostages to negotiate with government authorities, officials said.

Members of Russia's Pussy Riot band were detained on Sunday after trying to storm the pitch at the World Cup final in Qatar to protest the war in Ukraine, the imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the oppression of women in Iran, activists said.

Oil prices reclaimed ground on Monday after tumbling more than $2 a barrel in the previous session as optimism from China's reopening and oil demand recovery outweighed concerns of a global recession.

Airbus and Qatar Airways on Friday kicked off the latest in a series of London court hearings on a bitter business and safety row, amid a glimmer of hope that high-level contacts on the sidelines of the soccer World Cup might yield a breakthrough.

OPEC has cut its forecasts for U.S. shale oil supply several times as factors including investor caution curb expansion, making the non-conventional supply less of a worry for the producer group in its decisions on oil policy.

The latest earthquake to rattle West Texas will add costs to producers already snarled by inflation and supply shortages, as operators curtail their use of wastewater wells in the largest U.S.

Pakistan has lifted a ban on sugar exports, the finance ministry said on Thursday, in a move that government sources indicated was aimed at boosting foreign reserves.

Six months from an election in which Turkey's opposition has its best shot at unseating President Tayyip Erdogan in 20 years, a jail sentence against one of its brightest hopes has raised the stakes in the struggle to agree a presidential challenger.

SPB Exchange plans to offer trading in more than 500 Hong Kong-listed Chinese shares in 2023 and expand to markets such as India, Brazil and South Africa, the head of Russia's second-largest bourse said on Thursday.

The World Bank's private investment arm on Thursday said it had launched a $2 billion support package for Ukraine to help build the resilience of the Ukrainian private sector devastated by Russia's war and to prepare for reconstruction.

Unilever said on Thursday that its litigation with the independent board of Ben & Jerry's over the sale of its Israeli ice cream business has "been resolved".

Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Friday after falling 2% in the previous session on central bank interest rates hikes, and is poised to end the week higher after a series of positive oil demand forecasts.

The British bank is looking at securing a license in the kingdom to be able to manage deals including initial public offerings (IPOs), the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Lawyers for the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX on Wednesday opposed a demand for internal records from an insolvent affiliate based in the Bahamas, saying they "do not trust" the Bahamian government with data that could be used to siphon off assets from the bankrupt company.

U.S. senators on Wednesday pressed Congress to regulate cryptocurrency under existing financial rules, as lawmakers scramble to rein in the troubled industry after prosecutors filed criminal charges against FTX founder Samuel Bankman-Fried.

A Turkish court sentenced Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu to jail on Wednesday and imposed a political ban on the opposition politician who is seen as a strong potential challenger to President Tayyip Erdogan in elections next year.

Pakistan will take a dossier to the United Nations alleging its neighbour India has backed incidents of terrorism, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday, a day after Islamabad said India was behind a high-profile bombing.

Ukrainian atomic energy agency Energoatom said on Wednesday it would offer higher bonuses to staff at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station who remain loyal to Kyiv.